Ansbach

Large Rococo-style palace (almost disproportional to the size of the town) that now hosts the district government of Middle Franconia and a comprehensive collection of faiences and porcelain, paintings, ballroom with ceiling fresco and hall of mirrors.

Late-romanesque church with burial place of the Ansbach margraves. It was built around 750 CE, and was converted into a Lutheran church when the Margraves became Lutheran. According to the then valid principle of cuius regio eius religio, their subjects had to convert or leave, too.

The second major medieval church of the town. Its architecture is Gothic, the interior Baroque.

Baroque-style. Unlike most synagogues in Germany, it survived the Nazis' "Kristallnacht" of 1938 almost undamaged. Can only be visited during a guided tour.

Large Baroque-style orangery, part of the court garden.

Extensive and idyllic French-styled garden, including limetree avenues, lawns, flower parterre, orangery and citrus house. A medicinal plant garden was laidd out according to the works of 16th-century botanist and physician Leonhart Fuchs (name giver of the fuchsia). A stele marks the place where Kaspar Hauser was supposedly assassinated: Hic occultus occulto occisus est ("The mysterious one was killed here in a mysterious way").

Quite an impressive repertoire for such a small town. Founded in the mid 2000s.

One of the oldest American football teams in Germany, they played the very first German Bowl in 1979 against the now defunct Frankfurt Löwen. Their founding, like that of many of the earliest American football teams in Germany was linked to a notable US Army presence in the area. In the first years (before the introduction of more substantial limits on the number of Americans on the field), many of their players were serving tours of duty for the US Army at nearby bases, which have been shut down or greatly reduced in size in the post Cold War era. However, during the 1980s Ansbach produced several German national team players. They played in every German Bowl between 1979 and 1986 (I-VIII), winning it all in 1981, 1982 and 1985. Since those glory days, their fortunes have waned, however, they still field some pretty decent youth teams given the small size of the town.